Alexey Molchanov set a constant weight with fins world record of 137 metres on the final day of the 2026 AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, claiming the men’s overall title with 484 points.
One metre deeper, seven times over
The Russian athlete, competing independently, descended into Cyprus’s coastal waters on 8 October and surfaced cleanly, completing the surface protocol before gripping the line after roughly ten seconds. His dive surpassed the 136-metre mark he set in 2023 by exactly one metre. It was the seventh time he has broken his own CWT world record since first holding it in 2012.
He also became the first person ever to reach that depth in Limassol’s waters. Croatia’s Petar Klovar followed with a national record of 125 metres for silver, while Brad Stephens of the USA took bronze at 115 metres.
A rivalry that pushes the line deeper
The result extended the long contest between Molchanov and Klovar. Only eleven points separated them in the overall standings, Klovar finishing with 473. Klovar has recently chipped away at some of Molchanov’s older records, and his 125-metre dive was among the deepest of the championships.
“When it’s many disciplines, it’s just harder,” Molchanov told reporters afterwards, a quiet acknowledgement of the workload across a week that had already brought him a Constant Weight Bifins world title on 3 October with a 126-metre performance.
For Molchanov, it was the latest entry in a career that now counts more than forty world records across AIDA and CMAS competition, including two CMAS records set in Roatan, Honduras, just six weeks earlier.
Seven times the record has moved. Each time it has been his.
